Let Me Love You
by dancerr1120
Summary: CC - im BAD at summaries, but he loves her and wants her with him and away from Evan. my first fanfic EVERRR...review pretty please :
1. Chapter 1

As he had so many times before, Cappie pretended to be asleep as he watched Casey put her clothes on as quickly as humanly poss

As he had so many times before, Cappie pretended to be asleep as he watched Casey put her clothes on as quickly as humanly possible. He lay there silently, watching her quietly tiptoe towards the door, navigating her way through empty pie boxes and piles of clothes. He watched helplessly as she left him yet again. When she was safely behind the closed door of his room, Cappie sat up and stared at the door through which Casey had just exited, wondering how many more nights like this he could stand. It wasn't as if Cappie couldn't land practically any girl he wanted at Cyprus Rhodes – not only was he the president of Kappa Tau, the frat at CRU known for its amazing parties, laid back, welcoming atmosphere, and frat brothers that knew how to have a good time, he was carefree, witty, and absolutely gorgeous. It seemed as if everyone loved Cappie (especially the Tri Pis)…everyone except for the one girl he cared about more than anything.

Casey tried to quietly shut the door to Cappie's room so she didn't wake him as she snuck out…again. She stood there staring at his bedroom door for a minute, promising herself this was the last time she would ever need to make an early escape from the Kappa Tau house. Turning around, Casey ran a hand through her blonde hair and started down the stairs. Counting last night, this was the third time this month she had run into Cappie's arms after fighting with Evan about his recurring habit of cheating on her. Casey knew she wasn't being any better of a person by running right into Cappie's bed, but he comforted her, making her feel safe and…loved. As she reached the bottom of the stairway, Casey pushed thoughts of Cappie and love out of her head. She had more important things to concentrate on, like pretending her relationship with Evan Chambers, president of Omega Chi, was the epitome of Greek perfection. Casey was gunning for Zeta Beta presidency the following year, and knew that position would fall out of her reach if she dared end her relationship with Evan. Opening Kappa Tau's front door, she knew she needed to get used to the fact that Evan didn't really love her as he said he did. Heading toward the sidewalk, Casey accidentally bumped right into someone walking toward the house.

"Sorry," she mumbled, continuing to walk.

"Case?" a familiar voice called out. Her eyes widened and she whipped around.

"Rusty! Hi…what are you doing here?" she was now face to face with her kid brother.

"I should be asking you the same thing, Case," he said with a laugh, "I'm actually a member of this fraternity…you, on the other hand, are in a sorority, and one that refuses to associate with Kappa Taus at that."

"Oh…right…um…I, uh, told one of the guys I'd lend him my notes for a class he missed, so I was, uh, bringing my notebook over. Okay well I gotta go bye!" she started to turn around.

"Oh yeah, who?" Rusty was always so damn inquisitive.

"uhh….Cap-Cappie. Yeah, Cappie. He, uh, missed class, what else is new right?" she nervously laughed. "'Kay well, I really have to go, try not to contract any infectious diseases in that house." Casey, shaken up even more by the encounter with her brother, headed towards the ZBZ house.

Casey was hoping that nobody in the ZBZ house was around when she walked in – it was only 10:30 on a Saturday, most residents of Greek Row were probably not even awake, let alone fully dressed and walking into their houses, and she did not want to answer any questions concerning her whereabouts. She knew Ashleigh would probably figure out where she was, as Casey's best friend, she knew everything about Casey's relationship situation.

Casey opened the door leading into Zeta Beta and headed in, planning to get up the stairs and into her room as fast as possible. As usual in Casey's life, things did not go as planned – of course, ZBZ president Frannie happened to be walking up the stairs at that moment. Frannie heard the door open and turned around to see who it was, wondering who could possibly be entering the house so early on a Saturday morning.

"Casey! It's so early! Where could you possibly be coming from?" she asked.

"Oh, hey, Frannie! Um, you know, couldn't sleep so I just took a little walk," she lied.

"So dressed up?" Frannie inquired somewhat suspiciously. Casey froze, looking down at her skinny jeans and top that definitely looked more "night at the bar" than "early morning walk." "Are you sure you're not coming back from a night with a certain frat boy?"

"No! I just – uh – don't like leaving the house looking anything but my best!" Casey noticed her hands shaking, thinking of whether Frannie knew that she had been with Cappie the night before. She started up the stairs, just wanting to get to her room.

"Oh, come on, Case! We all know you and Evan like your late night rendezvous!" Frannie waited for Casey to catch up with her on the stairs and nudged her arm. Casey smiled nervously.

"You caught me Fran!" Casey joked uncomfortably as they reached the top of the stairs. "Well, I'll see you later!" she called as the girls headed opposite directions towards their rooms.

Casey opened the door and sighed as she headed toward her bed and collapsed on top of it.

"Well, Miss Casey Cartwright, would you like to tell me where you were all night? Even though I already think I know…" Asheligh asked, giving Casey the "you better explain where the hell you were all night before I punch you" look.

"Come on, Ash, where do you think I was? I was with Evan!" she tried to convince her best friend, knowing right away that she saw right through it.

"Case, I know you weren't with Evan last night. And that's not only because I know you better than almost anyone and can sniff one of your lies a mile away, but…I saw Evan last night…around midnight at Dobblers, he was leaving…and he definitely wasn't with you…" Ashleigh tried to break the news that she saw Casey's boyfriend leaving a bar with another girl the night before.

"What, did he just grab the first skank he saw, put his arm around her, and lead her out of the bar for everyone to see?" Casey's anger was flaring and tears were coming to her eyes.

"No, Case, he isn't THAT dumb…after you left, I saw him chatting up some girl, but they were standing in a group of people as to not look to obvious. Then he leaned over and whispered something in her ear. A few minutes later, she left Dobblers, and Evan followed about two minutes later. I'm sorry Case," she sat next to her friend, who now was curled up into a ball trying not to start sobbing. "Please don't cry over him!" Ashleigh put an arm around Casey, knowing that she was holding back tears.

"It's not just him that I want to cry over, Ash! It's everything! I don't know what to do anymore about anything. I'm sure you figured out that I was with Cappie last night…I just, I don't know! Evan and I got into another fight, I made a comment about him cheating on me, he blew up at me, basically saying he can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. Then I stormed out on him and just…ended up with Cappie, I guess. I was heading back to ZBZ, and I passed the KT house and I saw that Cappie's light was on, and the next thing I knew I just found myself walking up to his room…" Casey tried to explain.

"Case, you know I love you, but…you do realize you're doing the same thing to Evan that he's doing to you? And you're not cheating on him with random people, your cheating on him with your ex-boyfriend that I'm pretty sure you still have feelings for," Ashleigh gently said.

"But, Ash, it's different with Cappie… I don't know what it is…I just…"

"I know its different Casey. It's different because you still love him, don't you?" Ashleigh said, knowing she was right from seeing the reaction in Casey's eyes.

"It doesn't matter, Ash. Whatever I felt for Cappie doesn't matter. I'm not letting myself run to him every time Evan and I have a stupid little fight. You're right, I'm doing the same thing he's doing, and I wont be that person any more, I refuse to be that person anymore," Casey couldn't hide the pained look in her eyes.

"How about not being the person who stays in a relationship for all the wrong reasons? How about being the person who does the right thing and gets out of the relationship she's miserable in? I know you really want the presidency of ZBZ, but is it really that important that you'll stay in a relationship with a guy that cheats on you with no remorse and uses you?" Ashleigh was so right it scared the hell out of Casey.

"I cant do that! I can't just dump him! I mean, I love Evan. We just, you know, have our problems. Every couple fights…last night was just one of our bad ones," right on cue, there was a knock on Casey and Ashleigh's door. They both snapped their heads around and silently stared at it.

"Casey! It's Evan. I really need to talk to you. Please let me in," they heard Evan's voice say pleadingly from behind the door.

Casey looked at Ashleigh.

"Go talk to him, Case," Ashleigh sighed. "We both know you need to. I'll get out of here for a while."

Casey nodded, walked to the door, and opened it. She looked up at Evan, obviously appearing to be extremely unhappy with him.

"Yes, Evan?" she said coolly.

"Please talk to me, babe…" he started, reaching a hand out to touch her face. Casey felt herself wince a little at his touch.

"Wow, you must have kicked her out early," Casey snapped. Evan sighed and removed his hand from her face.

"Please, just let me talk to you," Evan begged once more.

"Fine. Come in," Casey opened the door a little more and walked to the middle of the room.

"Well, I'm going to go get a coffee or something," Ashleigh said, getting up and heading toward the door. "Casey, call me if you need me," she said, casting a disgusted look in Evan's direction.

"Okay, Evan, WHAT do you want?" Casey said as she plopped onto her bed.

"I just want to apologize for last night," he started.

"For what, the insisting that you can cheat whenever you want, or the actual cheating? And don't even bother trying to convince me that you didn't because Ashleigh saw you leave with some girl."

"For both, Casey!" he said, sitting next to her. "Babe, I never meant to hurt you. I'm sorry for blowing up at you and making you upset and making you leave. I was so upset that you left, I don't know what came over me, I was just talking to a bunch of people and this girl started flirting with me and the next think I knew…I'm so sorry."

"Evan…how many times can you say sorry and expect me to forgive you?" she asked him.

"Come on, you know I love you! I messed up, and I know that. But come on Casey, we're good for each other! We need each other," he said, putting an arm around her. Casey knew he was using his knowledge that she would never break up with him if she didn't want her sorority status to plummet to get her right where he wanted her.

"I – I guess your right," Casey smiled nervously at Evan. "Everyone makes mistakes."

"I knew we understood each other," Evan said, leaning in and kissing her. Casey couldn't help but think that she didn't feel half what she felt when Cappie kissed her, but she tried to push that thought out of her mind. She had to forget about Cappie – she wasn't with him anymore, she was with Evan, and that was the way it had to be. "And honey, just so you know, your little mishap during rush week with Crappie? I'm willing to overlook that. But if you ever decide to end things with me and run to him, I'll have no problem letting every member of Greek life know exactly what happened. You can kiss perfect Casey Cartwright's image goodbye, along with the ZBZ presidency, our relationship, and your dignity."

"Evan, I don't understand why you would even bring Cappie into this," Casey tried to sound nonchalant, but before she knew it Evan grabbed her arm and turned her to face him.

"Because I know that you still have feelings for him. Everybody knows you still have feelings for that disgusting excuse for a human. And everybody knows that without me, you have no shot at being anything in this Greek system. And you know that blackmail is used all the time in the real world. So, Casey, consider this a little preparation for life after Greek Row," he let go of his death grip on Casey's arm – she could feel a small bruise forming – and smiled maliciously.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Casey responded weakly, rubbing her arm where he had grabbed her.

"Oh, because I can. And because I know there's nothing you can do to stop me," he headed towards her door. Before leaving he turned around and said "You made your own bed when you chose to cheat on me with Crappie. And now you're going to sleep in it. Hope it was worth it…and that you didn't contract any STDs… love ya, honey!" he said the last part sarcastically and slammed the door, leaving a dumbfounded and confused girl to sit and try and think how her life got so fucked up.

Later that night, Casey decided to go on a walk to clear her mind, to forget everything that had happened in the past day. She'd been wandering around campus for about 45 minutes, finding herself in front of the Kappa Tau house. She got the sudden urge to see Cappie. Casey knew she should just keep walking back to her own house, but she couldn't help herself, she entered the house, walked up the stairs, and opened the door to his room. Cappie was laying on his bed, staring at the celing.

Cappie looked up to see who was in his room, ready to tell whoever it was to get the hell out, and saw that it was Casey. Sitting up, he stared into her eyes.

"Wow, Case, two nights in a row? Lucky me! What did big bad Evan do this time? Or should I say WHO did he do this time…"

"Cap, that's not why I'm here," she answered, and seeing his expression turn to doubt she added "tonight, at least." Perching on the edge of his bed, she felt the tears well up in her eyes. "I…I don't really know why I'm here. I guess I just, you just, I don't know," she said, putting her head in her hands.

Cappie moved closer to her. "Case, I know exactly why you're here. You're here because every time Evan does something bad, you run into my arms and into my bed. He cheats on you, you sleep with me. He gets in a fight with you, you make out with me. He makes you feel worthless, you run to me. I'm not as dumb as I look, Case, I know that to get president of Zeta Beta you need to be dating Evan Chambers. He knows it too, and that's why he's taking advantage of you. He treats you how he wants, when he wants, and we all know that you won't do anything about it," Casey now had tears running down her cheeks. Cappie hated to see her upset more than he hated almost anything else in the world, but he knew those words had to be said.

"Case," he continued in a softer tone, "Why do you stay with him? He's so horrible to you! Who cares if it'll get you president of ZBZ? I know, Frannie fed you that load of crap about how it's the most prestigious thing that could happen to a girl and CRU, whatever. Is it really that important to you?"

"You don't understand, Cappie! You Kappa Taus, you guys are different than us – " she could finish, Cappie cut her off, standing up as his temper flared;

"Yeah, maybe we are different! Maybe we don't care as much about stupid prestigious positions and all that bullshit. But you know what we do care about? What's actually important in life. Case, you KNOW I love you, I don't have to tell you that. And every time you come running to me I think 'maybe this time is different. Maybe this time she actually left Evan and finally wants to be with me.' And then you leave me. Every single time. Every time I watch you walk out that stupid bedroom door right there, you take a piece of me with you. And pretty soon, Case, pretty soon there wont be anything of me left for you to take."

"I – I'm sorry, Cap…" she tried to hold back the flow of tears falling from her eyes.

"I can't do this anymore, Casey. I cant just be the guy you run to for comfort when things go wrong with Evan. I can't, and I won't. I just don't have it in me anymore."

Casey rose her eyes to meet his, seeing how full of hurt they were. Not wanting to hurt him any more than she already had, she silently stood up and headed towards the door, stopping in front of Cappie.

"I'm sorry, Cap…I won't hurt you anymore," she whispered, leaving him for the second time that day.

When he heard Casey shut his bedroom door as she left him for the second time in less than 24 hours, Cappie locked his door and collapsed on his bed, trying to figure out why the hell he still loved Casey so much after all she had put him through. He had been lying there silently for some time when he heard a knock on his door.

"Hello, Cappie isn't in right now, please get the hell away from my door and don't come back," he sarcastically mocked an answering machine message.

"Cap, its Ashleigh, and if you value the ability to utilize your baby-making machinery you best unlock this damn door and let me in right now!" Cappie allowed himself to let out a halfhearted chuckle as he dragged himself to the door to let in none other than Casey's best friend.

"Well, well, well, I seem to be pretty popular with the Zeta Betas these days," Cappie joked as he let Ashleigh into his room. "Good to know I haven't lost my touch with the ladies despite the number your best friend the maneater has done on me."

"Cappie, that's what I came here to talk to you about." Ashleigh said with a pained look on her face as she viewed the heinously messy condition of his bedroom. "Ugh, by the way, Cap, you should put a sign on your door that says 'Warning: Plutonium Suit Needed To Enter.' Seriously, when's the last time this room's been cleaned?"

"Ash, are you here to scold me for my piggish habits or talk to me about abovementioned maneating best friend?" Ashleigh noticed a sort of resignation in his voice when he talked about Casey.

"Sorry, I'm a neat freak, just ask – um, well, okay nevermind. Anyways, Cap, you really need to know that Casey does really care about you. I know it seems as if she's been…well….using you lately, but even though we both know she wont ever admit it, she still loves you and would give anything to be with you," she tried to convince him.

"Yeah, that must be exactly why she ran up her Walk Outs On Cappie in One Day record up to two about 30 minutes before you got here," Cappie retorted.

Ashleigh sighed. "She came to see you again? What happened?"

"Nothing much…same as usual…I guess something Evan did upset her and she ended up here. I don't know what he did this time cuz I told her I cant handle being her second choice go to guy when her real boyfriend doesn't treat her right," he explained. "And then she said she didn't want to hurt me anymore and she left."

"Cap, I know that girl better than almost anyone, except maybe you, but I can't for the damn life of me understand why the hell she's still with Evan when you are right in front of her. I tried to talk some sense into her when she came back from your room earlier, but obviously she didn't listen to me. If she didn't love you so much she wouldn't have cared enough to leave and you know that. And that's exactly why I came here; I wanted to let you know that Casey really does love you, and that I'm on your side in all of this…Casey will come around eventually, that is, if your willing to wait for her. Now I should probably get back to ZBZ, I'm suspecting Casey's going to be needing her best friend right about now," Ashleigh stood up, patting Cappie on the shoulder. "Hang in there, Cap."

Ashleigh entered her room to find her best friend curled up on her bed sobbing for the second time that day.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Ashleigh pretended not to know that she was crying hysterically over Cappie, knowing not only that she could never have him if she wanted Evan to leave her alone, but that he didn't seem to want her anymore.

"Ashleigh I did something totally stupid tonight!" Casey managed to say through sobs. "I ended up in Cappie's room again. I shouldn't have gone up there, I promised myself I wouldn't do this to him anymore. I knew I shouldn't…but I just couldn't help myself! And he called me out on all my bullshit, and told me that he refused to be the guy I run to when Evan upsets me, and he's right!"

"Casey, do you think that maybe you're so upset about this because you want Cappie to be THE guy? Because you love him just as much as he obviously loves you?" Ashleigh said to a distraught and depressed looking Casey.

"I just need to go to sleep," Casey whispered, "I can't think about any of this anymore right now."

Ashleigh nodded and put a blanket over her friend who was already drifting off too sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

yayyy chapter two!! two long chapters in two days, y'all must love me :) haha juuust kidding but please review my lovely readers!! it makes me sad to see 80 hits and only 1 review

He couldn't stop thinking about her. He hated himself for telling her to stay away from him. Why would he push the one person he loved and cared about more than anything or anyone else in the world away? If he couldn't have her for himself, shouldn't it be enough to have her in any way she would let him? If that meant him acting as her safety net, the one person she could turn to when everything else in her life was falling apart, the one person she could trust completely to always love her, shouldn't that be enough for him? He lay awake after Ashleigh left. It was impossible for him to sleep. He turned and looked at the place Casey had occupied in his bed the night before. He could still smell her on his sheets. Who was he kidding, he could still smell her on all the old t-shirts of his that she had worn. He sighed and rolled over. He knew it was useless to try to get over her. He'd tried that over and over again it never seemed to work. How could he get over someone that would always have his heart? If he couldn't be with Casey, he didn't want to be with anyone. Everyone thought he slept with every girl that gave him attention because he was some smooth, suave, frat boy who loved playing the game, but every girl who had been in his bed besides Casey had just been a replacement, a stand-in that he tried to pretend was her. Nobody compared to her. He would wait forever for her. All of a sudden he shot up to a sitting position.

"What the hell is my problem?" he said to himself. "Why the hell am I laying here feeling sorry for myself? I need to fight for her. If it is the last thing I do, I'm going to win her back."

She drifted off to sleep for a short while, but all she could dream about was Cappie. She tossed and turned for a while, finally waking up and finding herself unable to fall asleep despite her exhaustion. She thought about what her best friend had told her earlier that day, and wondered what it would be like to just go tell Evan to shove his bullshit and cheating up his ass, and run into Cappie's arms and tell him she loved him and wanted to be with him. She let out a small chuckle. Too bad that could never happen. Even though Cappie was not the best boyfriend freshman year, he had really and truly loved her. Even though he told her so earlier that evening, she wouldn't have had to hear him say it to know it was true. Cappie didn't open up and let himself care about anyone very easily, and from the look in his eyes every time she ran to him for comfort, she knew he cared about her immensely. _But he's so immature_, she thought, _i can't just sit around and eat pie with him all the time, I have goals beyond being the president of my house for as long as possible_. She wondered why he had let himself be her safety net for so long, why he hadn't put a stop to it sooner. Why he had never said to her the words he said to her tonight, about loving her and hoping every time she turned to him she finally chose him over Evan. _Why hasn't he ever fought for me?_ she wondered.

It was at that moment she heard her phone beeping from somewhere in her room. She got up, hurrying to find it, and noticing that Ashleigh was not in her bed. She found her phone on her dresser, next to a note that Ashleigh must have written during the time Casey had actually fallen asleep, saying Calvin had called and wanted to hang out and talk, and that she probably would not be back until the morning. The screen of her phone told her she had received a text message. She opened her phone and saw that it was from none other than the boy who had taken over her thoughts and dreams. "I need to see you." She messaged him back "Ashleigh's gone for the night. I'm in my room." She figured if he was texting her this late, especially after their encounter earlier, than it must be important. She immediately began to worry that he was in some sort of trouble. A few minutes later, what seemed like forever to Casey, she heard her balcony door open, and saw a tall, blue eyed, shaggy haired figure enter. Casey couldn't help but crack a smile – leave it to Cappie to scale a building instead of coming in the front door.

"You know our front door works, Cap," Casey joked as Cappie closed the door behind him.

"I guess its more fun this way," he sat next to her on her bed. A few silent, tense, moments passed.

"You said you needed to see me," Casey whispered, turning to look at him and finding his blue eyes staring intently back at her.

"Casey, I can't go on like this anymore," he started, his voice raised slightly.

"You made that pretty clear earlier, Cappie!" Casey stood up and started walking across the room. "Did you just come here to tell me off again? Because I heard you loud and clear the first time!"

"Case, that is not what I mean!" Cappie rose to meet her and grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. "I mean I can't go on living without you! I tried to convince myself that being able to have you in whatever way you let me was good enough. If that meant you running to me when things went wrong with Evan, I dealt with it. But Casey, I love you so much it hurts. I can't NOT be with you…" he stared right into her eyes that he knew were about to fill with tears.

"I – Cappie – I'm sorry…I – I love Evan, I'm with him now. Whatever we had was in the past, and there's nothing we can do about it. Running to you all those times was a huge mistake. I don't know why I did it…I was just being stupid…" she answered, and the next thing she knew Cappie's lips were on hers, sending a jolt through her body, and he was pulling her close to him, fitting her body perfectly with his. She couldn't help letting herself relax into him, she couldn't help realizing that his kiss affected her more in 5 seconds than being with Evan for over a year. Cappie finally pulled away from her for much needed oxygen.

"You ran to me because you wanted to, Casey," he said huskily and breathlessly. "Don't tell me you can look me in the eyes and tell me Evan makes you feel the way I do, or that you don't want and need me as much as I want and need you!"

Casey stumbled to find words to answer him, noticing all too well the absence of his lips on hers and his body against hers.

"Cappie…" she started when a terse, angry knock sounded at her door.

"Casey, it's Evan, and if you don't open this door in two seconds I'm going to break it down!"

Cappie noticed a look of fear wash over Casey's face. She looked at him helplessly, and all he wanted to do was protect her, hold her close and make sure that Evan could never hurt her again.

"Let him break the door down, I'll break his face," Cappie whispered.

"No, no you have to hide! He can't know you're in here!" Casey whispered, becoming more and more nervous as the seconds passed.

"Fine, I'll hide in your closet, that is, if there's any room in there due to your voloume of clothing, but Casey – " Casey shoved him and his concerned, worried face into her closet before he had the chance to finish and sprinted to the door.

"Evan, I'm so sorry, I was sleeping," she said nervously as she opened the door. Evan pushed passed her slamming the door shut and then slamming her against it. It took all of Cappie's strength to not bust open the door and pound Evan to the ground for hurting her.

"You little slut, I saw you coming out of the Kappa Tau House earlier! What the hell were you doing in there? Don't you remember our little agreement?" he yelled.

"Evan, I wasn't – "

"Shut up!" he shouted, slamming her against the door again, "Don't you dare speak to me! If I ever see something like that happen again, you're going to get a lot worse than this to go along with what we talked about earlier!" He let go of her, causing her to fall to the ground. "Don't mess with me, Casey Cartwright!" he pushed past her small body on the floor and stormed out of her room.

As soon as he heard the door shut, Cappie ran out of his hiding place and to Casey, who was now curled up on the ground, silently sobbing.

"Casey!" his voice was full of concern and immense care for her. She looked up at him, and he saw the hurt and pain in her eyes, knowing her supposed boyfriend caused it. He knelt down next to her, taking her sob shaken body into his arms. He held her for a while, stroking her hair and rubbing her back. He wanted to know what the hell was going on with her and Evan, he wanted to protect her from him, from whatever he was doing to her, but he wanted to let her cry into him as much as she needed first.

"What is he doing to you?" he whispered into her hair after a while, and she pulled away from him, looking into his eyes.

"He knows what happened during rush week. He knows, and he's using it against me…he threatened to basically make my life hell if I ever broke up with him or got back with you. I always thought I was pretty lucky that someone like Evan wanted to be with me…I guess I got myself into more of a relationship of convenience than I thought with a guy who isn't nearly as great as I thought," she managed to say through her tears.

"Casey, look at me!" Cappie said sharply as Casey rose her eyes to his. "I just listened to that assbag push you around! And you know what, there's no way that was the first time something like that happened, so don't even try lying to me and telling me it was. It killed me to see that happen to you, Case! I can't stand it. You need to get the hell out of that relationship!"

"It's not that easy! It really isn't. You don't understand what he can do to me," Casey pulled out of Cappie's arms, standing up and moving to sit on her bed. Cappie was up and next to her within seconds.

"Come ON, Casey! I absolutely refuse to see this happen to you anymore! Just…just let me love you, Casey. Get rid of him. Who cares about being the president of some stupid sorority? Who cares about what people think of you, or what he tells people about you? And if he tries, for one second, to come after you and hurt you, I will protect you, and you know that," he raised his hand to her face, turning her head so that they were eye to eye. "I came here tonight to tell you, one last time, that I love you and I want to be with you. Now it's up to you, Case. The ball's in your court. Tell me right now what you want. If what you want is to be with me, then tell me. If not, tell me. Either way I'm not leaving you alone until you kick Chambers to the curb, and either way I'll be there to protect you if he comes after you. But listen to me, and listen good, because I'm going to tell you that if you tell me right now that you don't want to be with me, I am never going to ask you again. I'll be one hundred per cent DONE chasing you. So what'll it be, Casey Cartwright?"


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: i greatly apologize that it took this long for me to update!! i was at my lakehouse for a week and then it took me forever to write this chapter...its a tad fluffy...ok a lot fluffy haha and its not my favorite thing i've ever written but i hope y'all like it!

She looked into his penetrating blue eyes that seemed to be pleading with her to say she wanted him. Her eyes grazed over his face, the face she always seemed to see when she closed her eyes, the face that she always wanted to open her eyes to after a kiss from Evan. She looked down to see his fists clenched, something he always did when he was angry, or when he was nervous, or, as in this case of fist clenching, from a combination of anger and nervousness. She raised her eyes to meet his once more.

"It's more complicated than just wanting you, Cappie," she said softly. He stepped towards her and took her hand.

"No, it isn't! It isn't that hard, Case! Just say the words, you know I'll always be here for you no matter what happens. Can you say the same for him? Absolutely not. I just…I just want to keep you safe and away from him," he said. Casey simply stared at her hand in his, noticing the slight rise in her heart rate in response to his touch.

"But, Cap, it's Evan we're talking about here! No matter how much you want to, I don't know if you could protect me from him," she countered.

"Casey! What the hell are you going to do, just stay miserable with Evan and make me miserable because I know you are and you wont let me be there for you? What happened to strong Casey, the Casey that wouldn't stand to be treated horribly, the Casey that would fight for what she wanted? You certainly had no problem kicking me to the curb freshman year when I, being the huge idiot that I was then and probably still am, didn't treat you how I should have. Where's that Casey? Did Evan really break her that much?" Cappie rose his voice in frustration. Casey continued to stare at her hand that remained enclosed in his as if it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen.

"You don't know what Evan is capable of. He could easily ruin my life. I cant fight him and expect to come out unscathed," she said after a while.

"I don't care what he's capable of, Case! I just want you and to protect you. I will never let him hurt you ever again, you have to trust me!"

"God, Cappie, I want to trust you, I want you to be there for me, to protect me! I really do, but how am I supposed to do that when I've always had to protect myself? Doing what he wants me to do and staying with him is self preservation, and I have to do it no matter what my feelings are for you," she said with a pained look on her face.

"Damn it, Casey! That's not self preservation, that's self destruction! I would rather be a damn Omega Chi myself than watch this keep happening to you. Please, Casey, I'm begging you, just let me protect you from all this!" he tightened his grip on her hand while also taking the other one. He looked down at her and noticed that she had once again resumed staring at their intertwined hands.

"You don't understand how far Evan would go to hurt me. There's nothing I can do besides do what he wants me to do," she finally responded.

"Yeah, well, however far he would go to hurt you, I would go a million times farther to protect you," Cappie said to her with such a raw honesty and love that surprised Casey and caused her head to snap up and her eyes to immediately meet his. Seeing the mixture of desperation, worry, and love in his eyes was too much for her, she immediately fell into his arms, sagging against his strong chest and relying on the arms that immediately enclosed her to hold her up. Before she knew it, tears began to fall uncontrollably from her eyes as she sobbed, soaking the front of his shirt. She choked on a sob and felt him try to pull her even closer into his body.

"I love you, too," she said in a voice so quiet that he thought he imagined it, but then she tightened her grip on him and rose her tear filled eyes to his. "Promise me you'll keep me safe, promise me that you'll never leave me," her voice was full of so much pain that Cappie couldn't handle it.

"Case, you know I'll always protect you and I'll always be here for you, and I don't plan on ever leaving you or letting you leave me ever again," if he could have pulled her closer to him, he would have, but there was already minimal breathing room in between them. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"But – but what are we going to do about Evan?" she suddenly became worried and anxious again, trying to pull out of Cappie's arms so she could pace back and forth, as she usually did when she was worried, but Cappie knew what she wanted to do before she could do it and held on tightly to her, not allowing her to move more than an inch away from him.

"Stop it! Stop worrying about him, don't even think about him anymore. I'll handle everything in the morning, I promise," he tried to calm her, but one look into her eyes and he could tell she still doubted his words, doubting his promises to protect her. "Casey, you need to trust me. I know I've messed up in the past and basically given you every reason not to trust me, but I really need you to right now," he whispered into her hair. She looked up at him from her place in his arms.

"It isn't that I don't trust you, because I do, I know I can trust you with my life, just – " she started to say, but Cappie cut her off.

"Then please," he begged, "just stop worrying! It's late, you look exhausted and need to get some sleep."

Casey nodded and Cappie reluctantly let her go so she could move towards her bed. Before she reached it she turned to face him.

"Will you…stay with me?" she asked shyly, causing a smile to come to Cappie's lips, he rarely saw the shy side of Casey Cartwright and it reminded him of how much he loved her.

"I was hoping you'd say that," he climbed into her bed after her, placing an arm around her waist and pulling her back as close to his chest as possible.

Casey was finally able to shut her eyes and drift off to sleep, feeling more peaceful and protected than she had in the longest time. Cappie heard her breathing even out and immediately knew she had fallen asleep, such knowledge coming from the countless times she'd fallen asleep in his arms. He was only contented with the fact that he had finally gotten her to relax and fall asleep for a few moments, after which he took over her worrying. He really had no clue what he was going to do about Evan, he just knew he'd do anything to protect her. Cappie knew he had to confront Evan in the morning and tell him that if he ever so much as laid eyes on Casey ever again, he would be obliterated as fast as a case of beer at a Kappa Tau party.

In the midst of his own worrying, Cappie drifted off to sleep as well, waking just a few hours later alone in Casey's bed. The second he noticed the lack of her presence next to him, he shot up into a sitting position, sighing in relief when he saw her pacing in front of the bed.

"Case," he got out of her bed, approaching her and putting his hands firmly on her shoulders to stop her pacing. "I told you, you need to stop worrying about all of this! I'm going over to the Omega Chi house right now and tell Evan that he's staying away from you for good," he said confidently.

"Cappie, no!" Casey clutched at his shirt. "You can't go right now! Don't you realize he'll figure out that you were here last night? And anyway, do you really think he'll actually listen to you? He's Evan Chambers, he's not going to take orders from you!"

Her words stung him, and he took a step back from her. _He's not going to take orders from you_. He wondered if she really thought that little of him. Casey immediately realized she had said the wrong thing, clapping a hand over her mouth.

"Oh, Cappie, you know I didn't mean it that way!" she tentatively took one of his large hands in to her small one. "I just meant he's so full of himself and thinks he's so above everyone else that he wouldn't take orders from anyone, especially the guy he knows I'm in love with."

Her words stung him this time, too, but in a different way.

"Wow, I – I never thought I'd hear you say that to me again. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions, I guess I'm just in the habit of thinking that when you say something like that to me your angry and think I'm being 'childish,'" he squeezed her hand.

"I know, and I'm sorry for saying it that way, but I'm just worried about you going to see him! I think you should let me do it," she said.

"Absolutely not! You are not going anywhere near him! I refuse to allow it. I will, however, take your advice and wait a few hours to go over to Omega Chi and give him a piece of my mind," he grinned at her.

"Well…Ashleigh is going to be back soon, and the girls are going to be waking up soon and I don't want anyone to walk in and find you here, and it's not because I don't want you here," she added quickly, "boys upstairs in the ZBZ house are not allowed, and the last thing I need right now is to get in trouble with the house."

"Okay," Cappie nodded. "Well, I'm going to sneak out of here, and in ten minutes you are going to follow me back to the KT house, and if anyone asks, you are going to see Rusty."

A smile crept across Casey's face. "You have no idea how much I've missed the Kappa Tau house, specifically a certain room…" she trailed off.

"Case, you've been in the house and in my room, or should I say in my bed, a thousand times since…well, you've been there a lot in the recent past," he looked at her, a tad confused.

"Yeah, I know, but this time I get to be in your room because I've finally realized it's exactly where I belong," she looked up at him and the smile on her face meant more to him than her saying she loved him a thousand times over.

"You've always belonged with me. I've known that since the day I met you, I've just been waiting forever for you to finally realize it yourself," he pulled her to him, bringing his lips to hers in a kiss that reminded Casey once again just how much he loved her. "Now I better Romeo my ass out of here and scale my way back down your balcony," he joked, and Casey laughed, knowing he was referring to that scene in _Romeo and Juliet_ when Romeo escapes off Juliet's balcony so nobody sees or hears him.

"Okay, I'll be over to Kappa Tau to 'see Rusty' in ten minutes," she said as Cappie headed towards his stealthy escape. As she watched him leave, she was happier than she had been in a while, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was bound to stand in her way, something tall, snobby, and named Evan Chambers.


End file.
